Haven end run preplay part 2: the bloodening

[seaoftroubles]

• Duke gets his trouble triggered by Octavia in a kitchen accident and our crew discover that post-trouble bomb, it is EVEN MORE DIRE as he goes black-eyed and can't stop himself from trying to stalk whoever set him off
• Lucifer and Octavia stop Duke from doing anything bad (has Octavia make him bleed maybe so he can use his massive power supply to knock Duke tf out?). Duke recovers and says "fuck this, we need to end it" and suggests they go back to Haven one final time to figure out how to end the troubles forever.
• They arrive in Haven and Duke IMMEDIATELY goes into convulsions and vanishes in a burst of green smoke. OOPS.
• Lucifer and Octavia find Gloria (and Dwight maybe? And/or Nathan?), find out about the "no marks killer" who has been going around killing troubled folks -- and all the troubles that are going off like crazy without Audrey around to talk them down. I imagine there's some "okay, that sucks but WHERE THE FUCK IS OUR BOYFRIEND????"
• Duke is spotted around town murking folks, but they can't quite catch him
  I may or may not write a scene of Duke and Croatoan while Duke is under his control
• Trap set for Duke? Not at the police station. Gloria's house or the hospital/morgue, maybe, since she's coronering. Duke takes the bait, Lucifer pounces again to keep him from, getting away. After a false start or two during which Croat!Duke is DEEPLY UPSETTINGLY CREEPY AT THEM, Lucifer and Octavia manage to talk him around. (Possibly using Duke's new joy at being the subbiest sub who ever subbed!)
• Duke starts leaking troubles when Croatoan realizes he's broken his hold. He panics, and Octavia or Lucifer cover his eyes to keep the troubles in. Gloria goes "I'll get some drugs!" and scoots to find something to drug Duke with if need be (and gets out of harms way ;D). Duke takes over the eye-covering -- and goes into muscle contractions as Croat tries pull aether out by another route. This doesn't last long before Croatoan APPEARS DRAMATICALLY IN THE DOOR looking like a gremlin cosplaying as a noir detective. Duke can't even see him -- he's covering his eyes -- but goes "FUCK THIS SHIT" and starts launching the troubles he still has control over at the guy. I really like the idea that at least one of them is radioactive. Maybe Croat!Duke killed the lady from the nonsense trouble episode and got her "shooting microwaves" power. Lucifer and Octavia also fight. Eventually Croat EXPLODES (or . . . dissolves . . . or otherwise dies grotesquely) and our three spend a moment just panting for breath and looking at each other, all "omg, is that it? did we win?"
• Duke collapses dead. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Lucifer gods the fuck out, wiping out the troubles in a giant aether-nado, and resurrects Duke, who's spent maybe 30 seconds dead -- but that's [mumble mumble] amount of time in Hell so he's still a littttttle bit fucked.
• They go home and have more angsty h/c times yay!
• (Also probably Octavia checks on Gloria first and maybe convinces her to retire to Baltimore XP)

Comments

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[okteiviakom]

It seemed to echo in Octavia's, too. She let him grab her arm, casting a wild glance up at the sky, as if he was right, as if there was something, someone there to hear him. To obey.

But yelling at the sky wasn't going to bring Duke back, was it?

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[my_own_advocate]

"He's not dead," Lucifer said, finally ripping his gaze away from the sky. "He can't be dead."

Something strange quaked in his chest. Like a shout, bouncing around a large and empty auditorium.

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[okteiviakom]

"No," Octavia agreed, although her voice sounded awfully hollow. Low, with an odd note. "The town, it took him."

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, it had damned well better untake him," Lucifer bit back.

Anger to match her hollowness.

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[okteiviakom]

Octavia swallowed. She was staring into the middle distance, trying to force her own brain into something resembling action. They couldn't just stand there, every minute counted, and they needed --

"Someone has to know what's going on here right now."

Her hand was already reaching where she could feel the weight of her phone in her pocket.

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[my_own_advocate]

"Who?!"

It was not, it had to be said, the most useful thing Lucifer could contribute.

But it was the only thing he had.

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[okteiviakom]

Audrey was gone, Octavia wouldn't have had Nathan's number --

But let's face it, neither of those people would have been anywhere near the top of the list, anyway. There was only one person who'd ever been synonymous with hope in Haven for Octavia.

"Gloria."

And she was dialing.

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[seaoftroubles]

Gloria picked up after the first ring. “Wildcat? Tell me you’re still safe and sound down south.”

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[okteiviakom]

Octavia really hadn't been prepared to hear that nickname. Something in her cracked a little, and she had to take a sharp breath as she put the phone on speaker.

"No," she said. "We just got to Haven, and Duke -- vanished."

She had to force that last word out through her teeth, like her jaw didn't want to cooperate with her, to let it out.

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[seaoftroubles]

Gloria swore viciously. “You picked a hell of a time to come back. Audrey’s missing, and too many troubles are active to count. Disappearing could be almost anything!”

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer crowded up on Octavia, glaring at the phone. "Well, that's bloody helpful!"

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[seaoftroubles]

"Is that Lucifer?" Gloria asked. "Hon, I know how helpful it isn't. But Audrey's gone and Nathan's off looking for her. And Vince and Dave have been no-contact since shortly after the lighthouse went down again. And we've got some kind of serial killer taking out the troubled without leaving a mark. Dwight and I are hanging on by our fingernails here."

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was not going to be thinking about Nathan right now, and definitely not about what she knew had happened to Audrey, or the damn Haven squirrels, but --

"A serial killer?"

That, that part sent something cold right through her.

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[my_own_advocate]

"Yespleaseexplain."

Lucifer. Breathe.

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[seaoftroubles]

"Wish I could, kids," Gloria said with a sigh. "We've had five troubled people end up dead now, not a mark on them. Did the autopsies myself. Nothing outside or inside, except this weird cloudiness in their eyes. Like smoke or something. Never seen anything like it."

A beat.

"Well, except the Colorado Kid. But that was decades ago."

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[okteiviakom]

"Gloria, isn't Haven a place where weird things keep coming back?" Octavia asked.

Maybe she was grasping at straws. But straws were all they had.

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[seaoftroubles]

"You think it's someone's trouble?" Gloria asked. "We considered that, but the Colorado Kid was the first record we have of anything like that. And that was a one off. This keeps happening. And no one can remember seeing anything."

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[my_own_advocate]

"Do you have any kind of evidence for this at all?" Lucifer said, through gritted teeth. "Some-- clue we can start with?"

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[seaoftroubles]

“Don’t you think I’ve been wracking my brain for one?” Gloria snapped. “I’m not new to this, you smarmy devil. Vince and Dave had all the info on the troubles, and like I said, they’re AWOL. If I knew where their vault was. . . . But I’ve never been. Only folks I know who have are all missing, too. Nathan, Audrey, Jennifer. . . .”

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[okteiviakom]

"Jennifer's not missing," Octavia put in. "She came with us, last time we left."

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[seaoftroubles]

"Oh thank god," Gloria breathed. "I've been worried sick about that girl. Can you contact her? Find out where the vault is? She had to hide out there when William had us all running from a rougarou. . . ."

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer's eyes lit up. Finally. Something to do. "I'll call her," he said, pulling out his phone.

...

"Octavia, I need her number."

Re: Duke goes foomp and a visit from the exposition fairy

[okteiviakom]

"Hold on," Octavia muttered, poking around on her phone until she could read Jennifer's number out to him.

(At least she was safely far, far away from this.)